


Fratele, Colaborator

by flightinflame



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Emotional Manipulation, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), Project Icarus (Dirk Gently)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 11:17:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14810340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Project Icarus is on strike. As he isn't doing his own tests, Colonel Riggins offers to let him help with Project Lamia's.





	Fratele, Colaborator

Project Icarus could hear footsteps in the corridor outside, even as the alarm continued to blare. He knew he was meant to get up, that he was meant to have another day of testing. He rolled onto his side, his back to the door, staring at the wall. This was the third day that he had been on strike. It was easier, in a way. He still got hurt, still got punished, but this time it was on his own terms. 

The first day, Colonel Riggins had come in, had talked to him about the importance of the tests, about how Svlad was here because he knew it was where he needed to be, because he knew this was where people could help him. He hadn't answered that, and when the Colonel had left, it had been Mister Priest who had come in to 'reason' with him.

Icarus was fairly sure no bones were actually broken - if they were, that tended to be a trip to medical, which would actually mean he was able to prolong his strike - but it still _hurt_. Not as badly as the loss of privileges though. The handful of books he'd been given, taken. Even his extra blanket - five years of work stolen away in two hours. He'd cried when they'd taken the plant that sat on his shelf - a cactus that he had tended to for two years now, his one reminder that there was a world Outside. But he couldn't face another test. He'd reached the limit, and the thought of getting off the bed overwhelmed him. He wasn't able to face failing, face being wrong, one more time. So he was on strike. He'd tried to explain to Colonel Riggins, but he didn't have the words, so it came across as him being _disobedient_ , him not realising that actions had consequences. 

He tried to console himself with the knowledge that it would hurt either way, but this meant he was in control. He heard the electronic lock to his room - his cell - open, and tried not to hold his breath. 

He could smell Colonel Riggins' aftershave, but that didn't mean anything, not when Mister Priest used it sometimes to mess with him. He wanted to look, to know who was there, but he made himself hold still. If it was Mister Priest, he didn't want to know yet. The bed sunk under the weight of the other man in the room.

"Icarus," Riggins spoke softly, and the boy who had once been Svlad, and was now Icarus, who could feel something else forming within him, turned slightly. The Colonel nodded at his acknowledgement, and if he saw the redness of the boy's eyes, he didn't comment on it. "I know you're on strike. And you've made it clear that you're going to maintain it, even if that means you have to lose things you've worked for." He sighed, reaching out to squeeze Icarus's hand. "I don't like taking these things from you Icarus. I hope that soon you'll be able to earn them back, wouldn't that be nice?"

Icarus bit down the urge to nod. That was what the Colonel wanted, for him to apologise and say he would do _better_ but he couldn't face that. The Colonel sighed, shifting slightly behind him.  
"Icarus, look at me."

Reluctantly, he turned around, his arms still crossed.  
"I forget sometimes, that you're just a teenager," Colonel Riggins said, his voice gentle. "It's only natural that you want to test the boundaries."

Icarus stayed quiet.  
"I know you're not doing your tests for the moment," Colonel Riggins seemed to be choosing every word carefully. "But I wasn't sure if that extended to all work."

Icarus raised his head slightly, and the look on the Colonel's face told him that he knew he'd won.  
"What did you have in mind?"  
"There are some new tests I wanted to run on Project Lamia," Colonel Riggins explained. "I was going to have Mister Priest work with me, he's been wanting to test her abilities for a while, but he does tend to be a little… careless... with some of the test subjects, and I know she trusts you."

Icarus moved to sit up, his own hunger and pain forgotten.  
"I'll do it."  
"I knew I could count on you Icarus." Colonel Riggins smiled. "We're just seeing the range of her abilities. Come on, I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you." He held out a small plastic shape, the size of the tip of Icarus's smallest finger. "Put this in your ear, and that way we'll be able to tell you what we want."

Icarus obeyed, getting up and stretching a little, his joints aching after the hours he had spent not moving. He trailed Colonel Riggins down the corridor, barely noticing the men with guns that fell into step behind them.

His heart raced as they walked down the corridor together. It had been weeks, months perhaps, since he had last seen Lamia, and he worried about her. She wasn't like Moloch, who at least couldn't suffer. She was younger than Icarus in a way, a child trapped in hell, and the thought of seeing her made him feel almost dizzy with excitement. He reminded himself of the stories they had exchanged, that she wanted to be called Mona now.

They stopped outside a door with a familiar symbol on it.  
"I don't want her to worry about failing the tests, you understand?" Colonel Riggins asked softly. "So don't contradict anything I tell her."  
Icarus nods quickly, just wanting to be inside the room and able to hold Lamia against him.

Colonel Riggins leaned forwards, typing in an access code that Icarus could neither see nor guess, and then the door swung open. Icarus expected to see another room like his own - a bed, a shelf, and an alarm. What he wasn't expecting was a white walled room, with a box in the centre of it. Four guards stood to attention, each levelling a gun at the box. The box looked almost like glass, reminding him first of all of an aquarium, but one with no holes or lid. It was sealed. Within it, curled up in her favourite nightgown and using the face she often settled in, was Mona. 

He didn't dare use her name.  
"Lamia," he called out, and she looked up, her face brightening as she struggled to her feet, pressing her hands to the glass. Icarus ran forwards, pressing his hands to the points where she was, smiling softly. He looked more carefully at the box.  
"How does she breathe?" he asked the Colonel, who pointed at the base of the box.  
"There are vents which can be opened assuming she remains in a form that cannot escape." 

Icarus nodded, not knowing how to argue, just relieved that she was able to breathe.  
"Lamia, we've decided you've done well, you deserve a reward," Colonel Riggins called out, and Icarus was careful to keep his face blank. To hint that anything there was false would be to get them both punished, and he didn't want that.  
"I did well?" Mona asked, a bright smile on her face. "Can I come out of my box please?"  
"You can come out. I thought that perhaps you and Icarus would like a few hours in a rec room? He's been bored and I know that you've missed him."

Mona nodded enthusiastically, and Icarus smiled, trying to ignore the faint buzzing of the earpiece. What was important was that they would get to see each other again. 

With that, Colonel Riggins hurried Icarus from the room, and down another few corridors. He pushed open a door, and Icarus gasped. The room that they were being offered had a faded threadbare sofa against the wall, and a couple of beanbags on the floor. There was paper and crayons on a table, and the lighting was soft. Icarus spotted his beloved cactus by a sink, where two plastic cups were waiting. There was nothing there that could be used to fight or to injure themselves, but to Icarus it looked like heaven.

Colonel Riggins smiled softly, resting a hand on his shoulder.  
"Start off just getting her to be calm, she's been agitated the last few weeks and it's been causing erratic shifts. Then we want to see how many changes she can go through, and how she is doing at impersonating humans. Any restrictions you can find as well, weight or size, you understand?"

Icarus parroted back the commands, and the Colonel nodded. Then the door opened, and Mona was marched inside at gunpoint. Colonel Riggins left the room, and two guards took up their stations at the door, watching the two of them closely.

Mona waited until the door was closed before she threw herself forwards, wrapping her arms around Icarus's shoulders.  
"Fratele meu Mare," she mumbled, and he rubbed her back, stunned she still felt he was her brother. But she didn't know that he was being used to run tests. She thought this was a reward, and he wasn't going to take that from her.  
"Surioara," he answered, and she smiled a little, clearly proud that she was able to remember the one bit of Romanian he had taught her. He didn't like to use his old language, but for this between them, it felt right. It felt like their secret, even if he was betraying her at this moment.

The two of them clung together a little longer, and she took slow breaths, calming herself in his arms. It was only when she relaxed that he looked around.  
"Did you want to do some drawing?" he asked her softly. This was a treat for her, and he wanted her to get to make the most of it.

She nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to the table.

****

As Mona worked on drawing a picture of a field, full of rainbow coloured flowers, Icarus heard Mister Priest's voice in his ear. He tensed, and for a moment Mona glanced up towards him until a smile relaxed her.  
"You've got a job to be getting on with."

Icarus nodded slightly to show he had heard, his heart pounding with sudden terror.  
"Mona, I was thinking... you know how you're an actress?"  
She nodded to him.  
"I've been trying to write a play, do you think you could help?"

Her whole face lit up with joy and she nodded, bouncing slightly where she sat.  
"First off, can you look like me?" Icarus asked, tilting his head to one side and sticking his tongue out. "I need to know if you can-" maybe there was a chance they could use this kind of thing to escape. He didn't like using her, but it was better him than Priest.

She blinked, and suddenly his own face was staring back at him. It looked off, somehow, and it took him a moment to realise that she wasn't a mirror image of him - the Icarus symbol over his heart was on her left hand side too. He applauded.  
"What about Mister Priest?"

She pulled a face, but transformed again. Before he could feel himself tense at the sudden image, going back to her standard human form. He applauded, trying out a few different suggestions, always applauding and laughing. She was giggling now, her eyes shining - she was having fun. He was glad about that. She deserved some fun, after everything. 

***

Colonel Riggins and Mister Priest murmured orders to him, and he was careful to transform each into a game. Gradually he gathered the information needed. She could manage ten transformations in a minute, but then she needed to catch her breath. More sustained, she could change every twenty seconds. She could become too small to see, could become a feather or a bubble or smoke.  
"How big can you ge-" Icarus began to ask, then raised a hand in warning. "Say, don't do?"  
"I think I could be a mountain?" she said, her expression serious.  
"That's... that is big. Please don't be a mountain here, I don't want to be flattened."  
She laughed, and cuddled him, and the door clicked open. He felt her tense, and turned around to face Mister Priest.  
"That's enough reward time for you Lamia. Come with me."

Icarus watched as Lamia was led away, the guards following her, leaving him alone in this room. He sat on the sofa and removed the earpiece, glaring at it hatefully.

He looked up when Colonel Riggins sat down on the sofa beside him.  
"You did well today Icarus, I've arranged for one of your books to be returned."  
"Thank you Colonel," Icarus answered, trying to ignore the relief that flooded him. 

"Do you think further testing with Lamia is something you would want on your schedule?"  
"Please," Icarus said quickly, making himself smile. "I'll stop my strike, it was silly, I won't be any bother-"  
"I know Icarus, I know," Colonel Riggins soothed. "You carry on with your tests tomorrow, and I'll see if you can help me again with Lamia in a week or two, how does that sound?"  
"Good, thank you sir."  
"You're welcome Icarus. Now, let's get you back to your room."

Colonel Riggins held out his hand, and Icarus grabbed hold of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Lourdesdeath for betaing, and for a friend who helped with the Romanian  
> Colaborator - Collaborator ("slightly dubiously evil connotations")  
> Fratele meu mare - My big brother  
> Surioara - Term of endearment for a sister


End file.
